IainMilford

iTrader: (15)

Hi, I will be venturing out on some track days soon, and am looking to upgrade my brakes, I cant afford an all out AP set up etc, but wondering what discs/pads/fluid etc I could go for that will enhance my current standard setup, but staying with standard calipers at this stage

any advice welcome
cheers Iain

s70rjw

iTrader: (2)

Just done my 55Plate WRX PPP with DBA 4000 Wiperslot discs DS2500 pads.Goodridge braided hoses and DOT 5.1 fluid. Massive improvement, absolutely huge...£671 fitted. Bob

IainMilford

iTrader: (15)

thanks for that sounds interesting, where did you get the work done?

s70rjw

iTrader: (2)

RE Motorsport Subaru Dealer, Subura Imports, Subaru Specialist

Godspeed Brakes

iTrader: (259)

I can supply you a 335mm 2 piece disc kit to fit with your standard calipers and makes a huge difference over the standard sized discs , we supply a larger than standard pad as well , the kit is currently £550 , it is better than ANY standard sized disc and pad set up available for the WRX's. and will fit under the standard wheels
Cheers Ian

Samster

Iain - I ran an identical thread to yours in Feb and got some great help. In the end I went with the Godspeed brake upgrade (front and rear) incl. DS2500 pads and it probably cost just over £1k including fitting (superbly done by Prosport Subaru in Stockport - I'm no DIYer!!!). I also got Goodridge hoses and DOT 5.1 fluid.

Looking at your thread, it depends what you mean by 'enhance'...my Mrs runs a 120d, whose braking ability made the std brakes on my car (MY03 WRX PPP) look like mush. Now I have the kit on, the 120d's brakes feel like mush - there's undoubtedly as much braking force as you need on the road from the kit (and they look pretty sexy too)...I'd therefore probably say that I've done a little more than 'enhance' the std set up.

Not been on track yet (going to Oulton Park on 4th April) and I got the rears done as well so that the car would be more stable under hard braking - will be able to comment better on my set up after that. Rgds, Dave.

IainMilford

iTrader: (15)

thanks Dave, interesting re: the comment about the 120d, my mrs runs a seat leon and you only have to breathe on the brake pedal and your head is bouncing off the dashboard! The reason I am looking to upgrade is that I have upped the power to around 340bhp, have tweaked the handling slightly and it wont be long before the pads and discs need changing, so may as well upgrade while I'm at it. Looks like I've managed to get hold of a set of Sti brembos, have spoken to Ian Godspeed so will get a set of grooved discs and uprated pads from him so should make for a nice upgrade

ahar

iTrader: (3)

Hi Iain

I've got an 03 WRX that I put the godspeed kit on recently - 335m kit on the front, reconditioned calipers front and back, back pads (ds2500), braided hoses all round and 5.1 fluid. Took it round Cadwell recently and its made a huge difference compared to the standard brakes - I was almost outbraking a rally'd up clio!

IainMilford

iTrader: (15)

quick question, will the sti brembos fit under my standard wrx wheels?

Samster

no - you'll need to change your std wheels...

When I was surfing the threads for my upgrade, Performance Friction brakes were generally ranked as the dogs b's but only seemed to be an option for people with STi's as they used the Brembo calipers which categorically would not fit behind the WRX 17 inch wheels. Ian Godspeed knows which wheels the Brembos fit behind - have a look at my thread '03 WRX needs better brakes for the ring' posted early Feb this year.

If you're thinking of changing your wheels to take advantage of the Brembos and better brakes, I'm in the market for a second set of std WRX 17 inch rims for my ventures onto the track (condition not important).....

Harryr34

iTrader: (9)

IIRC the sti's came with 17" wheels

dbadiscman

I have some DBA 4000's available for your car at real bargain prices! PM me for more info!

sti4life

You can go for the modulo brakes 4-piston set up, half the price of brembo or AP, yet equivilant to brembo f40 4-pot. It comes standard equip with high performance ceramic pads. Check it out~

IainMilford

iTrader: (15)

^^ will they fit under standard wrx wheels?

sti4life

Yes I think they do fit into standard subaru wheels. They fitted their 4-piston with 12.1" disc on a OEM Mazda 3 16" allow wheel with no problem. But you should ask them yourself anyways, their kits can be found on ebay bro~

IainMilford

iTrader: (15)

thanks for the info sti4life, appreciated. I'm having to rethink my plans as I'm not in a position to get new wheels at the moment, and the brakes will need changing first so they're my first priority

sti4life

Ok no problem, just keep in mind that if you have 16" wheel, your maximum disc size allowance is 12.1" (302mm) . If you have 17" wheel, your maximum disc size allowance is 13" (330mm). Disc size of greater than 13", for example 14" disc size (355mm) will not fit into your standard oem 16" or 17" wheel.

sti4life

Oh bythe way, I also want this set of brake kit for my own wrx, so I managed to talked to the seller for Group Buys, now they are available, go check out my Group Buy deal at the marketplace!

IainMilford

iTrader: (15)

cool I'll have a look, iHAVE 17"S (oops caps lock!) so 330 should be ok

jasonius

iTrader: (1)

Lol, by the time you've forked out nearly £700 for uprated disc's and pads, STI Brembo's and new wheels you may have well gone for some 4pot 330mm AP's which will fit under your 7J 17 wheels..

Yes they do, but they're a 7.5J rim, not a 7J as on the WRX. The STI Brembo caliper is massively big and care need to be taken with regards to suitable wheels..

IainMilford

iTrader: (15)

cheers jasonius, I'll check that out, how do they compare to the STi brembo's?

sti4life

Depends on which model of AP calipers you are comparing with the Sti brembos.

But if you look carefully at the modulo brakes, it has almost the same size pads as the Sti brembos.

jasonius

iTrader: (1)

^^^

The std Brembo caliperis not bad, but it's very heavy and retains a lot of heat.

TBH the most important thing is the ability of the disc to dissipate heat, which is where a 2 piece rotor with alloy bell comes in.

I run 330mm AP 4 pots (CP5200) and DS2500's and they're fantastic. My concern with a lot of 'other' brands, and there seems to be more and more appearing on the market, is where are they being made/cast, Korea/china..? What QC checks are they being subjected to, if any..?!

Brakes, like tyres are not worth risking £ against reliability/safety..!

I was (reliably) told of a story recently where some Korean outfit were knocking out copies of an AP caliper, that were so good they even had the local AP rep scratching his head, as to why they kept having a certain failure/problem. It wasn't until one was sent back to the UK and the metallurgy tested that they realised they were illegal copies using very poor aluminium for the castings..!

If they had branded them as something else this may never have been picked up.. You don't need me to tell you the consiquences of a caliper cracking under high speed braking..

sti4life

Absolutley Jasonius, I agree with you. But I do have couple of suggestions you might want to hear.

The brembo std has heat dissipation problem, and that is true, that is why the modulo comes in with their smart design to block heat from transferring at the back side of their brake pads.

The purpose of two piece design rotors are not for heat dissipation. They are for light weight and reduce shaking upon rotation purpose. If they were for heat dissipation purpose, as to where they want to stop the heat coming in from and why?

When it comes down to manufacturing brake calipers, the aluminim casting you are refering to is the forged aluminum. The knock off caliper must have the forged aluminum because it would not be possible to CNC machine the calipers out simply from basic aluminum, because it would not be cost effective and time effective to manufacture them. Then as to why the knock offs are experiencing problems? There is several reasons why knock offs may have the defective probelm you are stating;
1. The caliper may have off specs in some area.
Even a tiny fraction of a mm matters when manufacturing brakes. A tiny fraction of a mm can effect the performance of the brakes and the endurance of the brake kit. When manufacturing calipers, if you are a fraction of a mm off, your pistons won't even fit into your caliper. Thats how accurate you must be when manufacturing brakes. A tiny fraction of a mm is almost non-visible to the naked eye, we are talking about a tickness thinner than piece of paper. (And paper is still too thick)
2. The caliper, upon forging may have not done heat treatment stage, or incorrect heat temperature treatment control.
Without the correct temperature for heat treatment at forging stage, it determins your caliper's aluminum strength against heat. This is the same basic concept you deal with your cloth. After the first wash of a brand new cotton T-shirt, it always shrinks. As to weather the manufacture has done correct shrinkage control, you can tell right away after the first wash. So back to heat treatment, if it is not done properly, your caliper weakens against heat, and result is crack, and your caliper's original spec becomes off the book, therefore problems starts to surface.
3. Poor measurement details.
If a knock off caliper company has poor information on their measurement for each make and model, the result, they will not even fit onto your car.
4. Poor Calipers final anodizing stage.
Anodizing is necessary for ALL calipers prior to finishing. It is to strengthen the inner and outer suface of the caliper to prevent any type of corrosions. There is so much different type of anodizing available, there is cheap ones that has no control on the thickness of anodizing and there is one that is expensive with control. If a caliper does not have anodizing, the caliper is not possible to last over a month on your car. Your brake fluid will starts to corrode the aluminum away inside out. So there is a possibilty they chose the cheap ones, because those who cut the honorable time and expense to manufacture brakes will result in recieving problems and failures.
5. Other misc reasons
There is always other misc. reasons why their knock off brakes fails that we don't know. We don't know where they skip the proper stage. So if you see an brand new AP kit out that sounded too good to be true, it probably is. You pay for what you get!

There is so much to tell you guys about brakes. But you guys might just be sick reading all these already. If you trust my professionalism, go for a set of modulo brakes at a decent price while you can. From what I see, they have their own unique design, and is definatly not a knock off or a copy of some other calipers that you see out there in the market today.

peace!

jasonius

iTrader: (1)

Lol, I'll defer to your obvious superior knowledge..

Out of interest and if you don't mind me asking, what's your back ground..?

Godspeed Brakes

iTrader: (259)

Judging by his posts I'd say he owns Modulo Brakes !

jasonius

iTrader: (1)

Lol..

IainMilford

iTrader: (15)

lol I was thinking the same thing, hes on commission!!

sti4life

LOL pardon my knowledge guys! I just loves brakes, been playing with brakes since high school. I used to have 7 sets of BBK in my garage, 2 were sold, 4 is using, 1 is sitting around~
1 set of F50 brembo with 320mm disc - sold
1 set of 2-pot brembo with 302mm disc - sold
1 set of F40 brembo with 302mm disc - using on my Honda Civic 8th gen
1 set of K-Sport 355mm disc Front - using on my brother's EVO 9
1 set of K-Sport 330 disc Rear - using on my brother's EVO 9
1 set of AP 355mm using on my - Subaru WRX GDB
1 set of Lotus Brembo sitting in the garage with dust on it. =)

Now I just want to try a new set of modulo, but without GB its too expensive, show some support if you can help, thanks!

any questions, feel free to ask me ^^

sti4life

Ian, can you get hold of a set of modulo brakes at decent price? thanks!